But... don't you train at a Gracie Barra school? It seems like the largest affiliation in the world should be able to provide another qualified BB to rank your instructor if he feels he needs to be ranked up?

Yes. There's a story here but I don't want to stir up shit by telling it.

Yes. There's a story here but I don't want to stir up shit by telling it.

I never had a problem with paying for a seminar, since I do learn a lot and they are loads of fun. My academy never makes them mandatory, but some schools can charge up to 500$ to receive a promotion... ugh, for me that's just not right.

I teach for free but if I had a membership fee I would not charge them.. I wake up one day and decide certain guys are ready so I tell them I am bumping them up , I pick a day and have them shark tanked.. I hate the whole money aspect of the arts.. I believe instructors have a right to make a good living if they so choose but that many start bleeding people and go too far

1. Never pay the fee 2. Stay a whitebelt forever 3. Win whitebelt worlds every year 4. ??? 5. Profit

Paying for anything beyond your monthly class payment is crazy to me.

I think you should pay for the belt too :)

A belt cost no more than $5-10 wholesale. If someone sticks around to train with me for years to deserve a promotion, hell no I will be so cheap to ask them to pay for that themselves. Out of respect for the student, I always pay that from my own pocket. If I REALLY wanted to have that expense covered, I would divide those $5 out over x number of years of monthly fees they'll be paying before the promotion. (Although I don't charge anything for my classes right now, so I just pay for those few belts with embroidered names myself).

Ha, I assumed I'd already responded to this thread. But yeah, I've never paid a fee and would never charge anybody either. I think it's a really REALLY bad idea to directly connect a new belt with money, as that's how you turn BJJ into TKD. Belt promotions should not become a revenue stream. At my club, the system is that I order a load of belts and keep them in my attic, taking that out of the money in the club account. If it's a promotion to blue, I'll get a blue belt down from the attic and give it to the person after class some time, everybody applauds and they get a photo (and I tell them go post it on Beltchecker ;) ). If it's higher than blue, I just ask them 'so, what dates are you free so my instructor can come down and promote you?', then I get my instructor down to do it (he'll roll with them first, but yeah, so far he's been happy with my judgement).

That's why i left my 'team'. Get the purple and brown...next they changed the standards of the team...monthly fee for the club and annual fees For each members (no insurance..only to be a member) buying stuff with a minimum amount 1200€ year, seminars and pay for promotions. I understand that the team upgraded professionaly, like gracie barra and others...but my little team cannot afford that...i explained....they say 'pay or you will have to leave, you are so close to the black belt do not be silly'.. I'm Brown belt for life now

I'm surprised you don't also demand that your students recite a sonnet or two, or, at the very least perform a piece of contemporary post-feminist performance art, or produce a conceptual manifesto on the pre-structual neo-Foucaultian interpretation of contact sports, vis-a-vis the Nietzschian will to power.

Depending on the reasoning I guess though if you have a coach from a great distance coming to grade the students then maybe to cover travel costs this is needed ? but ive always seen more of a seminar the day prior or the day after to cover this.

I never had a problem with paying for a seminar, since I do learn a lot and they are loads of fun. My academy never makes them mandatory, but some schools can charge up to 500$ to receive a promotion... ugh, for me that's just not right.